1996/04/01 by Sally Driml, Mick Common · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Environmental Science · #Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research #Economic and Environmental Valuation #Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy #Great barrier reef #Tourism #Tropics #Sustainable tourism #Interim #World heritage #Geography #Cultural heritage #Environmental resource management #Environmental planning #Ecotourism #Heritage tourism #Natural resource economics #Business #Tourism geography #Reef #Ecology #Economics
paper · doi:10.1080/09669589608667255
openalex publication_date 1996/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The paper examines the extent to which tourism in the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics World Heritage Areas can be said to be sustainable. To do this it provides a definition of sustainable tourism for protected areas, in terms of ecological economics criteria. Tourism, and its management, in the two World Heritage Areas is described, and the outcomes are assessed against the definition of sustainable tourism. The available data is not sufficient to permit a definitive overall assessment. However, a favourable interim verdict appears justified against environmental criteria in the case of the Great Barrier Reef. There is in both cases a dearth of suitable data for proper assessment against economic criteria. The criteria proposed and the assessment exercise reported provide a contribution to developing ways to evaluate sustainable tourism.